Ennius Quotes

“A sure friend is known in unsure times.”
Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur.

“He who has conquered is not conqueror
Unless the conquered one confesses it.”
Qui vincit non est victor nisi victus fatetur.

“And earth who herself bestowed the body takes it back and wastes not a whit.”
Terram corpus quae dederit, ipsam capere neque dispendi facere hilum.

“There is no fellowship inviolate,
no faith is kept, when kingship is concerned.”
Nulla sancta societas Nec fides regni est.

“The Roman state survives by its ancient customs and its manhood.”
Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque.

“Let no one pay me honor with tears, nor celebrate my funeral rites with weeping. Why? I fly, living, through the mouths of men.”
Nemo me lacrumis decoret neque funera fletu faxit. Cur? volito vivos per ora virum.

“Fortune is given to brave men.”
Fortibus est fortuna viris data.

“As a strong horse that has often won on the last lap at Olympia is now resting, tired out by old age.”
Sicut fortis equus, spatio qui saepe supremo Vicit Olympia, nunc senio confectus quiescit.

“Who kindly sets a wand'rer on his way
Does e'en as if he lit another's lamp by his:
No less shines his, when he his friend's hath lit.”
Homo qui erranti comiter monstrat viam, Quasi lumen de suo lumine accendat facit; Nihilo minus ipsi lucet, cum illi accenderit.

“Your minds that once did stand erect and strong,
What madness swerves them from their wonted course?”
Quo vobis mentes, rectae quae stare solebant Antehac, dementis sese flexere viai?

“No one regards what is before his feet; we all gaze at the stars.”
Quod est ante pedes nemo spectat, caeli scrutantur plagas.

“No sooner said than done—so acts your man of worth.”
Dictum factumque facit frux.

“Whom none could overcome with iron or gold.”
Quem nemo ferro potuit superare nec auro.

“Open your eyelids, will you all, and let your brains leave sleep behind.”
Pandite sultis genas et corde relinquite somnum.

“The mind wanders unsure, except in that life is lived.”
Incerte errat animus; praeterpropter vitam vivitur.

“The ape, vilest of beasts, how like to us!”
Simia quam similis turpissima bestia nobis!

“Not chaffering war but waging war, not with gold but with iron—thus let us of both sides make trial for our lives”
Nec cauponantes bellum sed belligerantes; Ferro non auro vitam cernamus utrique.

“One man, by delaying, restored the state to us.
He valued safety more than mob's applause;
Hence now his glory more resplendent grows.”
Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem. Noenum rumores ponebat ante salutem; Ergo plusque magisque viri nunc gloria claret.

“Whom they fear, they hate. And whom one hates, one hopes to see him dead.”
Quem metuunt oderunt; quem quisque odit, perisse expetit.

“All mortals desire themselves to be praised.”
Omnes mortales sese laudarier optant.